1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image processing apparatus that are capable of reducing the amount of developer consumed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Regarding image forming apparatuses, there is a demand for reducing the consumption amount of toner, which is developer. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-299239 discloses a configuration for reducing the consumption amount of toner by lowering the exposure intensity with respect to images having a relatively large area. Also, in image forming apparatuses, the phenomenon called “sweeping” may occur, in which an increased amount of toner adheres to the trailing edge of an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive member in the rotational direction of the photosensitive member. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-272153 discloses a configuration for suppressing the influence of sweeping. Specifically, a correction region is determined according to the data value of a pixel and the data value of the pixel that is located downstream of the aforementioned pixel by a predetermined amount in the sub-scanning direction. Furthermore, according to the disclosed configuration, a pixel that is located upstream of the correction region pixel by a predetermined amount in the sub-scanning direction is also determined to be in a correction region, and the influence of sweeping is suppressed by adjusting the exposure amount applied to these correction region pixels. Suppressing the influence of sweeping, results in a reduction in the consumption amount of toner.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-345076 discloses a configuration for reducing the exposure time, using pulse width modulation in order to suppress degradation in image quality due to sweeping. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-343748 discloses a configuration for adjusting the exposure amount in order to suppress degradation in image quality due to the edge effect.
However, with the configurations according to the documents described above, there is the possibility of degradation in dot reproducibility and the possibility of degradation in image quality of narrow line-shaped images, which result from adjustments made to the exposure amount.
In recent years, regarding image forming apparatuses, there has been an increasing demand for reducing the amount of developer consumed while suppressing degradation in image quality. Also, regarding image forming apparatuses, there is also a demand for suppressing undesired radiation noise (radiated electromagnetic waves).